When I reflect on my collegial, professional learning community....

When I reflect on my collegial, professional learning community I think of all of the support and encouragement I have received throughout my experience.  The feedback I receive from my colleagues and fellow students has given me better insights and understanding of the issues and challenges that the early childhood faces.  I have a better understanding of the impact I can have on the early childhood field as an advocate.  I have learned that we are not alone in our fight for quality, funding, and better services for young children and families.

One of my goals is to use my collegial experience to inspire my advocacy in the early childhood field. I plan to continue to draw from the support and experiences of those I have worked and studied with to assist me in advocating for better quality services for all children.  I believe all young children and their families have a right to high-quality childcare and education.  I hope to continue to connect with my fellow students even after our program has ended.   You have all been a great source of inspiration, hope, and encouragement to me throughout my program. 

My Hypothetical Family Situation

My family is a blended two parent family with three children.  There are two girls and the newest addition a little brother, Emerson.  Mom and Dad were recently married last year, both the girls refer to their stepfather as Dad as he has been with Mom for several years and their biological fathers are not present.  Mom and Dad were told prenatally that Emerson would be born with a cleft palate.  Emerson arrived at the end of November with a bilateral cleft palate. 

A bilateral cleft palate is the incomplete formation of the lip and the pallet.  This requires extensive surgeries and the therapies.  Initially the infant will require a feeding tube as they are unable to suck.  Sometimes cleft palate occurs as part of a syndrome and other times it is simply genetic.  Until Emerson was born it was impossible to know the extent of the cleft palate or whether it was part of a syndrome or genetic.  Testing was done immediately after birth and it was determined that Emerson’s cleft palate was due to genetics only.

Babies with a cleft palate require initially feeding tubes, syringe feeding after surgeries, multiple surgeries to repair the lip and palate, dental repair, and speech therapy. 

Emerson’s family is a low-income family. Due to Emerson’s special needs the family has decided to have Dad stay home with Emerson while Mom returned to work as a Preschool Teacher.  Since there are no childcare facilities in their area that could meet the special needs for Emerson’s feeding issues both parents feel better if one of them is home with him until his surgeries are complete and feeding is no longer an issue.  Part of Emerson’s feeding issues is maintaining a very specific feeding schedule and ensuring that Emerson has a specific amount of formula or breast milk each day, increasing the amount each week.

Dad is from Honduras and Spanish is his primary language, with English being his second language.  Mom is learning Spanish but her primary language is English.  Dad speaks both English and Spanish to all of the children in the household.  The family has been impacted by sociocultural context of being a blended multicultural family.  Economic cutbacks to early intervention and early childhood services have impacted the family by the lack of services of available in their area.

 Early childhood services that would support my family would include: early intervention services, pediatric specialists, special needs early childhood care and education, and mental health services for the family. 

The Political Will To Improve Early Childhood Systems

My program of study has made me aware of many more organizations that can assist people in advocating to their local Congressmen and Senators for Early Childhood Programs.  As a member of the National Head Start Association (NHSA) I am updated on upcoming important bills that may affect Early Childhood Education and Programs.  This site also gives me step by step directions on how to write my local Congressmen and Senators.  Other sites like, Voices for America's Children, also keeps me informed.  Through this site I can sign petitions as well as write my local legislators.  I can also share these petitions and letters with friends, family, coworkers, and local community members through Facebook and Twitter.

When legislators are bombarded with letters and petitions they learn what is important to their voters.  Individuals can make an enormous impact in legislation just by banning together and writing and calling their local legislators.

Websites like those I have listed have shown me that even one person can make a difference.  You can advocate and share information with others on a local level and impact your local communities.  I like that you can share this information via social media as well as through printed materials. 

When I began this course of study I was not sure how much of an impact I could have as an advocate and was not even certain that I was cut out to be an advocate.  Now I feel more confident in my abilities to make a difference and in being able to impact my local community.

As Ghandi stated "be the change you want to see you want to see in the world".